Floor board and fastening therefor



Sept. 18, 1934. F. w. CHERRY FLOOR BOARD AND FASTENING THEREFOR Filed June 18, 1952 Patented Sept. 18, 1934 PATENT OFFICE FLOOR BOARD AND FASTENING THEREFOR Frank W. Cherry, Kenilworth, Ill., assignor to Lug-Lox Flooring Company, a corporation of Illinois Application June 18, l

' 9 Claims.-

The present invention relates to that type of floor in which the boards are held in place by means of fastenings extending up between the boards and each'interlocked at its upper end with J the two'boards betweeniwhich it lies; and it has for itsobject to improve the same.

Flooring of the tongue'and groove type has long been-known to be preferable to flooring in which the boards are not interlocked. Specifically con-- sidered, the present invention may be said to have for its object to make it possible effectively to fasten down the boards of this type of flooring by means of clips or fastenings introduced between the'meeting edges of the boards, without involving any great changes'in the construction or shape of the individual boards.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention ischaracterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for

.20 aiull understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had .to the following detailed description-taken-in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein: Figure 1 is a vertical section, transverse to the long edges of the floor boards, through a floor embodying my invention; Fig. 2isa section on line 2-2 of'Fig. -1,-theclips or fastenings-and the board to the left of the clips or fastenings in Fig. 1 being shown in elevation; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of'a' fragment of a floor board having one of the improved clipslaid againstthe same; and Fig.

'4 is a'perspective view of'the clip.

Inthe'drawing Ihave illustrated my invention as applied to a floorand, for the sake of brevity, the detailed description will be confined to this particular embodiment,-as the principle of the invention is the same whether the boards lie in .a horizontal plane, in a vertical plane, or' at an angle to;the*vertical, or whether they lie above -or-below-;or beside the support or foundation therefon- The word floor therefore includes .these other forms aswell as constructions that .are commonly known as floors. Referring to the drawing, 1, 1 represent paral 15 lel, shallow,trough-like or channel-shaped metal -5 '3, to produce horizontal inwardly-extending flanges. v I Asiscustomaryin this type of floor, the boards 4, tare'laid upon the channel members 1, 1, crosswise of the same, so that thesemembers form the s5 'inmnediatesupporting means forthe boards.-

932, Serial No. 617,987

It is my desire that the means for fastening the boards to the underlying supports be such as to make it unnecessary greatly to modify the tongue and groove construction of boards now in common use. Thus, each board has in one long edge a tongue 5 extending lengthwise thereof and, in its other long edge, a longitudinal groove 6 adapted to receive the tongue on an adjacent board; These tongues and grooves need not differ materially from those ordinarily employed in flooring and other tongue and groove boards. In each board, immediately below the tongue, I cut a narrow channel 7 extending throughout the length of the board. Also, the edge of the board on the side having the tongue is cut back, as indicated at 8, below the tongue, so as to stand inwardly from the plane of the upper portion of that edge.

The boards are held to the underlying supports by means 'of clips interlocked with the supports but slidable along the same. The clips extend up between the boards and have at their upper ends flanges that fit into the narrow channels or saw cuts '7 and also into the grooves 6 into which the tongues on the boards fit.

Each clip or fastening is T-shaped, as viewed from the end. In the arrangement shown, the clips are formed of comparatively thin sheet metal folded upon itself between theends thereof and having the two end portions bent laterally in opposite directions. Thus, each clip comprises a stem portion 9 of double thickness and two thin flanges 10 and 11 extending the full length of the clip. The flange 10 of each clip is adapted to enter the channel '7 in one board while the flange 11 is adapted to enter the groove 6 in the adjacent board. By making the material of which the clips are formed very thin the flanges 11 will enter the grooves in the boards along with the tongues that fit into those grooves, without requiring any other change in the boards than perhaps a slight widening of the grooves in the downward direction or a slight thinning of the tongues from the under side. 7

Each of the lips or flanges 10 is preferably provided at its outer long edge with a sharp tooth 12 that will bite into the wood when the boards are has been laid. Such a second handling or manipulation of the clip or fastening will be necessary if the clip or fastening will not remain in a position in which its flanges are horizontal after having once been set in that position; for, if the clip ing once been set in that position, I provide the flanges 11 with prongs 13 rising therefrom at their free edges and having at their upper ends sharp in-turned points 14. The height of the prongs is approximately equal to the thickness of the tongues on the boards, so that the prongs will extend up past the free edges of the tongues and. the points on the prongs will bite into the tops of the tongues, as shown in Fig. 1. When a clip or fastening has once been pressed into position, With the pointed end of the prong biting into the tongue on a board, it will remain there and require no further attention when the next board is moved into place. The prongs should not be so high as to form on top of the tongue an obstruction that will push up the adjacent board; the particular height of the prongs being a matter of choice excepting that the inturned points on the prongs preferably being out of contact with the wall at the top of the groove when the top surfaces of the corresponding boards are flush with each other.

It will thus be seen that the flanges of my improved clips have a bearing on both of the boards between which the clips lie, throughout the entire length of the clips, so that the boards will be solid- 1y supported. Furthermore, the flanges 11 are so thin that it may not be necessary to make any change in the ordinary tongue and groove construction in order to permit these flanges to enter the grooves in boards of the usual tongue and groove type. At any rate, very little altering of the ordinary tongues or grooves of floor boards will be required. It will also be seen that only a very thin saw cut need be made in each board, directly underneath the tongue, to receive the flanges. Furthermore, because the metal of the clips is thin, the teeth 12 will easily penetrate the wood at the bottoms of the saw cuts and hold the clips that have been applied to one board against accidental displacement until the next board can be laid.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a floor, boards having longitudinal interengaging tongues and grooves in their meeting edges, each board having narrow channel means extending lengthwise thereof immediately below the tongue, and fastenings extending up between the boards from below, each fastening having elements entered in the channel in the edge of one of the boards between which the fastening lies and in the tongue-receiving groove in the other of such boards.

2, In a floor, boards having longitudinal interengaging tongues and grooves in their meeting edges, each board having narrow channel means extending lengthwise thereof immediately below the tongue, and fastenings extending up between the boards from below, the fastening being formed of metal plates each having at the upper end oppositely-directed lateral flanges one of which is entered in the channel in one board and the other of which is entered in the tonguereceiving groove of the adjacent board.

3. In a floor, boards having longitudinal interengaging tongues and grooves in their meeting edges, each board having narrow channel means extending lengthwise thereof immediately below the tongue, fastenings extending up between the boards from below, each fastening having elements entered in the channel and the tonguereceiving groove in the edges between which the fastening lies, and a prong on one of the aforesaid elements of each fastening extending up beside the outer edge of the adjacent tongue and interlocked therewith.

4. In a floor, boards having longitudinal interengaging tongues and grooves in their meeting edges, each board having narrow channel means extending lengthwise thereof immediately below the tongue, fastenings extending up between the boards from below, each fastening having elements entered in the channel in one of the two boards between which the fastening lies and into the tongue-receiving groove of the other of the two boards, and a prong on one of the aforesaid elements of each fastening extending up beside the free edge of the adjacent tongue and provided with a sharp point driven into the latter.

5. In a floor, boards having longitudinal interengaging tongues and grooves in their meeting edges, each board having narrow channel means extending lengthwise thereof immediately below the tongue, clips extending up from below between the boards, each clip being formed of thin sheet metal folded along three parallel lines to produce a stem and oppositely-directed flanges, one flange of each clip being entered in the channel in one of the boards between which it lies and the other flange being entered in the groove of the other board below the tongue on the first board.

6. A clip or fastening for floor boards consisting of a thin metal sheet folded along three parallel lines into a structure T-shaped in cross section, the part forming the stem of the T being of two thicknesses of metal, and the parts forming the arms of the T being thin flanges of a single thickness of metal, one of said flanges having a tooth at its long free edge.

'7. A clip or fastening for floor boards consisting of a thin metal sheet folded along three parallel lines into a structure T-shaped in cross section, the part forming the stem of the T being of two thicknesses of metal, and the parts forming the arms of the T being thin flanges of a single thickness of metal, prongs extending upwardly from the long free edge of one of said flanges and having in-turned sharp points at their upper ends.

8. A clip or fastening for floor boards consisting of a thin metal sheet folded upon a line extending entirely across the same and having the two sections on opposite sides of the line of fold in contact with each other, the free marginal portions of the sheet being bent laterally in opposite directions along lines parallel to and spaced at equal distances from the aforesaid fold line, thereby forming a structure T-shaped in cross posite directions along lines parallel to and spaced at equal distances from the aforesaid fold line, thereby forming a structure T-shaped in cross section of which the stem portion is comprised of two thicknesses of metal and the arm portions are thin flanges each composed of a single thickness of metal.

FRANK W. CHERRY. 

